Conventionally, consumers have applied granular lawn care product and other granular items to their property by using a granular product spreader. With the conventional granular product distribution system, consumers would primarily purchase their granular product in a bag or other container. Before they are able to apply the granular product to their property, however, consumers would have to manually open the bag, lift the bag, and pour the granular product into the hopper of a conventional spreader system. There are several drawbacks associated with this conventional approach to distributing granular product.
One drawback of the conventional apparatus and system for distributing granular product is that the process of opening a bag of granular product and pouring the granular product into the hopper is not always seamless. The granular product bag may have to be opened using a knife, scissors, or some other cutting device. Further, the consumer may not know how large of an opening to cut into the bag, and may cut an opening in the bag that is too large or too small, making it difficult to pour granular product into the hopper. Further, in the transfer process, the consumer needs to take care to not spill the product onto the ground when pouring it into the spreader. The transfer process may result in the consumer coming into closer proximity to the granular product than they prefer. There are other reasons why the consumer might not like the process of pouring granular product into the hopper. For example, some consumers may dislike the odor of the granular product, while others may find the bag heavy or cumbersome to pour. Some consumers may find the task of opening the bag of granular product and pouring the granular lawn care product into a hopper laborious. Some may find it difficult to pour the right amount of product into the hopper that will match the size of their yard or property.
Another drawback of the conventional granular product distribution system is that a bag of granular product may not be easily re-sealable for later use. As a result, some consumers may find it difficult to store the granular product after the bag or container has been opened. Further, some consumers may be concerned about storing an open bag of granular product in their homes or other high traffic areas. Finally, after dispensing the granular product with a convention spreader system, some consumers find it difficult to transfer any left-over amount back into the original product bag.
Yet another drawback of the conventional spreader systems is that the spreader itself may have an application rate adjustment mechanism that the consumer has to set correctly before applying the granular product to the lawn. Conventionally, some spreader settings are set in conjunction with the particular type of granular product being applied to the lawn; thus, consumers would have to look at the granular product bag, find the spreader setting listed on the bag, and then physically set the spreader setting in accordance with what is listed on the bag. Failure to use the correct spreader setting may result in the consumer dispensing product at a rate other than what is recommended on the label. In failing to use the correct setting, consumers may choose an application setting that may not be appropriate for the particular type of product. For example, consumers may use a setting from a previous application, which may not be optimum.
These and other drawbacks may be associated with conventional granular product distribution methods and devices.